Pokemon
Pokémon Go to the Pub
12/05/26 23:20
Created another Pokémon Go Route last week. It’s from Dr Duncans to the Denbigh Castle, or more correctly to the PokéStop by the Denbigh, which is the lovely ‘Nomad Clan’ mural. The route takes in the Queens Arms on Victoria Street, so you can take in three fab pubs.
Had to appeal the decision to refuse the route on Danger grounds. Lol
When I first uploaded the Route it was turned down by the powers that be. The Route was rejected because it was ‘dangerous or unsafe area.’ I had to bother to appeal this spurious reasoning and I did appeal, and was successful. Huzzah!
Dr D's to Denbigh Castle Route
There is definitely a theme in my routes. Good pubs aplenty and not too long either. You can actually now follow a continuous route from the Queen of Hope Street at the top in of town down to the Denbigh Castle, on the other side of Dale Street. This is made up of four routes and takes in loads of good Liverpool pubs. I’m not sure I’ll ever do all four in one day, but it could happen.
- QoHS (Liverpool Philharmonic stop) to the Grapes. This originally took in the Caledonia, which is now closed, but you don’t have to walk past the Cali to complete the route. You simply take in the Belvedere Arms instead.
- The Grapes to the Vines, taking in the Dispensary
- Vines to Dr Duncans.
- Dr Duncs to Denbigh Castle (Nomad Clan Stop), taking you past the Queens Arms.
Good luck picking up those Zygarde cells. At least you can guarantee a decent pint or two even if you can’t get those pesky Zygardes.
A pint break in the Queens Arms
Had to appeal the decision to refuse the route on Danger grounds. Lol
When I first uploaded the Route it was turned down by the powers that be. The Route was rejected because it was ‘dangerous or unsafe area.’ I had to bother to appeal this spurious reasoning and I did appeal, and was successful. Huzzah!
Dr D's to Denbigh Castle Route
There is definitely a theme in my routes. Good pubs aplenty and not too long either. You can actually now follow a continuous route from the Queen of Hope Street at the top in of town down to the Denbigh Castle, on the other side of Dale Street. This is made up of four routes and takes in loads of good Liverpool pubs. I’m not sure I’ll ever do all four in one day, but it could happen.
- QoHS (Liverpool Philharmonic stop) to the Grapes. This originally took in the Caledonia, which is now closed, but you don’t have to walk past the Cali to complete the route. You simply take in the Belvedere Arms instead.
- The Grapes to the Vines, taking in the Dispensary
- Vines to Dr Duncans.
- Dr Duncs to Denbigh Castle (Nomad Clan Stop), taking you past the Queens Arms.
Good luck picking up those Zygarde cells. At least you can guarantee a decent pint or two even if you can’t get those pesky Zygardes.
A pint break in the Queens Arms
Comments
Pokémon Go: Kalos Event
03/03/26 23:38
Had an excellent week on Pokémon Go this week catching a few I didn’t already have and getting some with Mega Energy. Some of these with enough to Mega Evolve and others just getting me part way, but closer next time I see the right Mega Raids.
These were once again largely assisted by turning up at—or near to—the Liverpool Meet-Ups by St George’s Hall. Highlights were getting a few Kyogres, being able to Mega a Tyranitar, and getting closer to a Mega of Metagross. Shame I didn’t get a Mega Swampert (one of my favourite Pokémon’s in my Dex). But getting a Kyogre I guess makes up for it from a Water type anyway.
New Pokémon I caught this week included;
Kyogre
Zekrom
Reshiram
Kyurem
Mega Malamar
Xerneas shiny
Kangaskhan (hatched 10k shiny)
Hawlucha (another hatched 10k)
Next week I should hopefully get a MewTwo which will get me my Platinum badge for catching all the Kantos. I’ve not got many Platinum badges (9 total ATM) so any more I can get now would be great. Unique Poke stops may be next but will require me to visit a few newish towns and spin away.
I’ve now got 31 I can Mega evolve—and therefore collect the energy without Raiding—I’ve been slow working on these. I guess cos you can’t Raid on your tod that easily. Thank you, Liverpool peeps. I went into the park the other day (waiting to get Tyranitar) and spoke very briefly to a couple of people. Haven’t met the main peeps of the group. It did good to see that there are plenty of people doing it—don’t want to think I’m the only one not reading books and ‘wasting’ my time with the game. It’s clearly mostly younger people than me. And many not old enough to take the route of playing whilst having a pint in Dr Ds. Well, not old enough yet…
These were once again largely assisted by turning up at—or near to—the Liverpool Meet-Ups by St George’s Hall. Highlights were getting a few Kyogres, being able to Mega a Tyranitar, and getting closer to a Mega of Metagross. Shame I didn’t get a Mega Swampert (one of my favourite Pokémon’s in my Dex). But getting a Kyogre I guess makes up for it from a Water type anyway.
New Pokémon I caught this week included;
Kyogre
Zekrom
Reshiram
Kyurem
Mega Malamar
Xerneas shiny
Kangaskhan (hatched 10k shiny)
Hawlucha (another hatched 10k)
Next week I should hopefully get a MewTwo which will get me my Platinum badge for catching all the Kantos. I’ve not got many Platinum badges (9 total ATM) so any more I can get now would be great. Unique Poke stops may be next but will require me to visit a few newish towns and spin away.
I’ve now got 31 I can Mega evolve—and therefore collect the energy without Raiding—I’ve been slow working on these. I guess cos you can’t Raid on your tod that easily. Thank you, Liverpool peeps. I went into the park the other day (waiting to get Tyranitar) and spoke very briefly to a couple of people. Haven’t met the main peeps of the group. It did good to see that there are plenty of people doing it—don’t want to think I’m the only one not reading books and ‘wasting’ my time with the game. It’s clearly mostly younger people than me. And many not old enough to take the route of playing whilst having a pint in Dr Ds. Well, not old enough yet…
A Good Weekend of Pokémon Go
17/02/26 23:45
My first Shundo: a shiny Spinda for Valentines weekend. All the Spindas had a heart shaped pattern on them. Just getting a shiny was nice, but a 100% one (a Hundo) was brilliant (even for a fairly useless Pokémon).
A Spinda Shundo. Not that useful, but cute.
On Sunday I went into town when the Meowth Gigantimax event was on. As I’ve done once before I ‘joined’ the local Liverpool group trying to catch them around St John’s Garden. I was having a relaxed time in Dr Duncans whilst they were wandering around the gardens. I joined three or four groups and caught some. My first Gigantimax.
But best of all I’d been hoping for a few weeks to catch a Mega Pidgeot - and I did, thanks to the groups, finally a new possibility to Mega evolve a Pokémon or two. I don’t have that many that can Mega evolve at the moment. It was the last day that they would be available for quite a while. Next up now will be to try and catch a Sableye over the next couple of weeks. Fingers crossed.
My first Mega Pidgeot enjoying The Vines.
A Spinda Shundo. Not that useful, but cute.
On Sunday I went into town when the Meowth Gigantimax event was on. As I’ve done once before I ‘joined’ the local Liverpool group trying to catch them around St John’s Garden. I was having a relaxed time in Dr Duncans whilst they were wandering around the gardens. I joined three or four groups and caught some. My first Gigantimax.
But best of all I’d been hoping for a few weeks to catch a Mega Pidgeot - and I did, thanks to the groups, finally a new possibility to Mega evolve a Pokémon or two. I don’t have that many that can Mega evolve at the moment. It was the last day that they would be available for quite a while. Next up now will be to try and catch a Sableye over the next couple of weeks. Fingers crossed.
My first Mega Pidgeot enjoying The Vines.
New Raiding
26/01/26 23:45
This weekend I went on a Raid meet-up in Liverpool city centre to try and nab myself a Shadow Raikou or two. The meet-up is arranged by the ‘local ambassador’ and is usually in or around St John's Garden behind St George's Hall. There's almost as many Saints as there are Pokemon.
A very busy and colourful St John's Gardens
I’ve never been to a Raid Day really, and certainly not an arranged meet-up. And whilst I did ‘join’ the meet-up I didn’t actually go and meet anyone. Most of the Pokestops and Gyms in the area designated as the ambassador area were visitable whilst sat with a pint in Dr Duncans. Very handy for me indeed.
I took part in multiple raids and caught most of those I won battles in. I ended up with eight Shadow Raikous. One was a 3* and one was a 2* Shiny. Whilst I was made up to get a couple of decent Pokémon, I was mostly pleased by the vast amount of XP points I won and even more happy with the copious numbers of Rare Candies I received. I was to invest the candies on my rather decent Meltan (still miles of having the number for evolving it, but at least I’m closer now) and also my Larvesta. I’m not far now of being able to evolve that one (11 candies short of the 100).
Cor!!
I’ll defo geg in on the meet-ups again. The benefits are really rather good. And even better with a beer in hand too!
The Dr Duncan's Pokemon Team of One
A Shadow Raikou briefly popped into the Doctors
A very busy and colourful St John's Gardens
I’ve never been to a Raid Day really, and certainly not an arranged meet-up. And whilst I did ‘join’ the meet-up I didn’t actually go and meet anyone. Most of the Pokestops and Gyms in the area designated as the ambassador area were visitable whilst sat with a pint in Dr Duncans. Very handy for me indeed.
I took part in multiple raids and caught most of those I won battles in. I ended up with eight Shadow Raikous. One was a 3* and one was a 2* Shiny. Whilst I was made up to get a couple of decent Pokémon, I was mostly pleased by the vast amount of XP points I won and even more happy with the copious numbers of Rare Candies I received. I was to invest the candies on my rather decent Meltan (still miles of having the number for evolving it, but at least I’m closer now) and also my Larvesta. I’m not far now of being able to evolve that one (11 candies short of the 100).
Cor!!
I’ll defo geg in on the meet-ups again. The benefits are really rather good. And even better with a beer in hand too!
The Dr Duncan's Pokemon Team of One
A Shadow Raikou briefly popped into the Doctors
Routes and Routes (and occasional curves)
08/02/25 15:06
I’ve used Routes in Pokémon Go a few times, but given my usual (non Pokémon) routes around Liverpool I thought it would be good to have some which fit my more common walks around the city. So to that end I’ve created a few of my own. This means that now if I am walking between Dr Duncan’s and the Vines, or the Vines and the Grapes I can follow these paths rather than find a path a little out of the way by the necessity of following other prescribed routes; for instance there’s one from the Vines (or Lidl) to the top of Bold Street. They may be close to where I want to go to, but they leave me walking a bit of a way from my ultimate destination.
The first time I set up a route it was from a very common walk of mine between the key venues of The Vines (Big House) and Dr Duncan’s. The former being where I quite often watch the matches on the telly boxes and the latter being the lovely pub closest to Queen Square (where my bus comes in). Unfortunately either my phone or provider developed a GPS issue and so for my first one it randomly put in a strange switch back to the route—so if you want to do it you have to double back on yourself and start the route again to complete the route (it’s not too far but it is not ideal to retrace your steps in that way).
A wayward wiggle on the way from the Doctors
To those that haven’t done it; you actually select a start point and the end point (which have to be Gyms or Poké Stops) and then you physically do the walk you want to between them. When you get to the end you have to put in some details (name and description etc) but unfortunately there’s no editing capability if there are any errors which you’d like to correct (like this GPS one).
I’ve since created my second route (Vines to the Grapes) and then a third (The Grapes to The Philharmonic). In reality I was doing it to the Queen of Hope Street, but there is no Poké Stop for the QOHS so needs must.
Anyways, if you want to do a decent pub crawl taking in three consecutive routes (and hence pick up some Zygarde Cells on the way!) then you could follow these three (‘From the Doctors to the Big’ - ‘Grapes & Vines’ - ‘From the Grapes and Upwards’) whilst taking in the following pubs:
Dr Duncans
The Vines
Dispensary
Grapes
Belvedere
Caledonia
Queen of Hope Street
Philharmonic Pub
If you don’t get any Zygarde Cells you can at least get yourself some decent ales and your daily steps in (and maybe catch some decent footy as well).
The first time I set up a route it was from a very common walk of mine between the key venues of The Vines (Big House) and Dr Duncan’s. The former being where I quite often watch the matches on the telly boxes and the latter being the lovely pub closest to Queen Square (where my bus comes in). Unfortunately either my phone or provider developed a GPS issue and so for my first one it randomly put in a strange switch back to the route—so if you want to do it you have to double back on yourself and start the route again to complete the route (it’s not too far but it is not ideal to retrace your steps in that way).
A wayward wiggle on the way from the Doctors
To those that haven’t done it; you actually select a start point and the end point (which have to be Gyms or Poké Stops) and then you physically do the walk you want to between them. When you get to the end you have to put in some details (name and description etc) but unfortunately there’s no editing capability if there are any errors which you’d like to correct (like this GPS one).
I’ve since created my second route (Vines to the Grapes) and then a third (The Grapes to The Philharmonic). In reality I was doing it to the Queen of Hope Street, but there is no Poké Stop for the QOHS so needs must.
Anyways, if you want to do a decent pub crawl taking in three consecutive routes (and hence pick up some Zygarde Cells on the way!) then you could follow these three (‘From the Doctors to the Big’ - ‘Grapes & Vines’ - ‘From the Grapes and Upwards’) whilst taking in the following pubs:
Dr Duncans
The Vines
Dispensary
Grapes
Belvedere
Caledonia
Queen of Hope Street
Philharmonic Pub
If you don’t get any Zygarde Cells you can at least get yourself some decent ales and your daily steps in (and maybe catch some decent footy as well).
Pokémon Go
13/06/24 08:13
I’ve been playing Pokémon Go for a few years now after being introduced into it by several bar staff in different pubs. I am unsure whether I should thank them or blank them. But suffice to say I’m now at the mighty Level of 41. That’s largely down to me getting buses into and out of town. The number of Poké Stops I pass and Pokémon I see makes progress relatively easy. Of course whilst those 30 to 40 minutes each way have regularly been used for progressing on Pokémon I could have used to for reading. I mean it’s mind boggling how many books I could have read instead of this basically nothingy game. But hell, I like it. Every Perfect or Shiny I get makes me happy. Not insanely happy, but it’s a game isn’t it? And I enjoy doing well in games whether it’s Wordle, Connections, Scrabble, or Pokémon.
I deleted the online Scrabble game I used to play (Words with Friends) a few years ago as I couldn’t stop myself playing as soon as a move had been made by someone else whatever time it was played. I realised it was eating my time up throughout the day. I suppose at least Pokémon is usually just eating time up when I’m on a bus commute. And I can confirm that the No. 17 bus I get into Liverpool isn’t necessarily the best place for book reading. I may not have read that many more books really: and I’m Level 41 now—with 33 Perfect Pokémon and multiple Legendary and Mythical ones too. Bet you’re jealous. Then again, probably not.
My Fave ones? Well I guess the ones I use most for battles would be Primarina and Swampert, which are both 4* (aka Perfect) but I still need a bit of work to get the CP maxed out—and to get a Mega Swampert.
These are some of my current collections of Legendary and Mythical Pokémon:
